Halloween: The Tree Covered in Black Roses
by Lexi the Hedgehog
Summary: Lexi's babysitting of all things, and tells the children a story, a scary one, about love, death, and a tree covered in black roses.  Longest story yet guys!


**Hey guys! This is what I'd like to call my Holiday stories shorts, these go with my other stories but don't have a solid place, like it goes somewhere between say story 1-3, something like that, and it's just a short little one shot for the holidays. Enjoy!**

_**Shadow: You forgetting something. **_

**Lex: Why yes I am! How rude of me to forget! I would like to give a shout out/thank you, to missblueflames for the Story that Lexi tells the kids! *to shadow* she was a HUGE help, I would have never come up with something this good! **

_**Shadow: so she did all the work.**_

**Me: DID NOT! She just gave me the outline, I Lexified it. SO HAH! Over grown rat. *to everybody else* She's an awesome writer so check out her page! (AFTER U READ MY STORY!)**

"Aunt Lexi, Aunt Lexi tell us a story!" cried the five little children loudly. Lexi, a black hedgehog with red striped, and ice blue tipped Quills, came sweeping in from the kitchen.

"A story?" she asked, not liking the idea much.

"Pleeeez Aunty Lwexi" said the smallest one.

"I can't tell you a story, it's Halloween, I can only tell scary stories on Halloween it's a rule." It was true too, it was a thing her family did, they would tell scary stories every year and only scary ones. No rainbows or butterflies, only bloody murder, supernatural, death filled, can't-sleep-for-a-week ones. Ever since her family was gone she would sit on the roof of her house and tell one or two, with a stupid little hope that the wind would carry her stories to someone that need them, it was stupid she knew that, but she was loyal and not doing it just seem…wrong like she was forgetting something that was importation. And now there was someone to listen for real this year, and who wanted to hear, how could she pass it up?

"We would like to hear a scary one." Said the oldest. Lexi looked at the clock, it was an hour before bed time and there was five of them and one of her, it was a very good way to keep them quite. But what story?

"Fine, I'll tell you all a story, sit." She said, and the five children sat in a crescent shape on the floor. Lexi sat down and looked at each child slowly trying to remember which one was which. On her left, Lexi saw the two year old, black hedgehog with dark brown eyes; his name was Hale, and he was cute as a button.

Next to him was Lilly, pale red fox with blue eyes. She was very shy, and sweet. The kind of kid mothers dream as they try and get all the rocks out of their son's ears. She was four.

On Lilly's left was Kate, she was the oldest at six, she was a pink wolf and was the leader of the little band of munchkins. She had black eyes and was nice but had a kind hardness to her.

Josh was next on the train of mini people; he was a gray hedgehog with green eyes. He was 3.

Last and on Lexi's right was Lukey he was a brown squirrel with yellow eyes, and he was a total boy, he played in dirt, liked to scream, run and gross out the girls, and Lexi had already stopped him from eating a bottle cap. Not a very smart kid.

"Ok," Lexi began, "before I start I have to ask, do you believe in love?"

"EWWWWW!" yelled the children.

"No" came the smooth reply of Kate.

"Oh no! That's bad!" Lexi cried.

"Why?" Asked Lilly.

"Because I'm about to tell you, It all started over hundreds years ago, in a land very close to this one….."

xxxxHappyhalloweenxxxx

The moon was a silver globe hanging above the peaceful meadow. At one side of the meadow, a girl stood waiting in the shadows, she pulled at her cloak trying to get it to cover more, the cold October wind was less to blame for her shivering that her fear of what was she was doing. She looked anxiously across the meadow, her eyes searching for something or someone. A wolf howls making her jump, but she had bigger thing to be afraid of.

A twig snapped behind her. She whirled, her hand already on the hilt of the sword on her side.

"I hope you're not going to hurt me, Amelia." Said a masculine voice. The cloaked man stepped out from behind a tree. Amelia let go of her sword relaxing as she threw her arms around her love, knocking back to hood of his cloak in the process.

"Benjamin!" She cried. "I thought you won't come or that you changed your mind! Or worst I thought that maybe my father had..." She ranted until his lips pressed onto hers.

"Now let's get this straight right now, I love you with all my heart and I will never change my mind, and _I will never leave you_. And your father knows nothing, he will not hurt us, he can never hurt us again. We're running away remember?

"Yes I remember, how could I forget? I'm standing in the middle of the dark woods waiting for my love," Amelia said and smiles, seeming to light up the dark woods around them. She looked at this handsome young man who she had fallen so deeply in love with, with his lime green eyes and cobalt fur, he, in her eyes, was perfect.

"I'm so sorry you had to wait here, but it's time to go" said Benjamin. He took her hand and looked in to jade green eyes of hers, they went well with her pink fur and he was going to marry her no matter what anybody said. Shaking away from his dreaming he lead her deeper into the woods, where he had two horses tethered and ready to ride.

xxxxHappyHalloweenxxxx

Unbeknown to the two lovers, Amelia's father was anything but ignorant of his daughter's flight with the most wanted outlaw in the realm. As the town Sheriff, he had gathered together a group of citizens to hunt them down. His orders are swift, but decisive.

"Kill the outlaw, and show no mercy." Says the sheriff shortly. "Bring my daughter to me. Do not let the outlaw or my daughter get away."

The sheriff turned his posse to the west road, where he knew they will flee by. His hand rises in a signal to move forward. They began their pursuit at a gallop, ready to kill on sight.

xxxxHappyhalloweenxxxx

They had been riding for a while when they hear the hoof beats behind them. Benjamin heard them first and turned in his saddle to see if what was this worst nightmare was going to come true. It was, he saw the sheriff's posse as they rounded a bend in the road, their spurs glinting in the moonlight as they spur their steeds onward.

"No," whispers Benjamin. "No!"

Amelia turn and saw them too. With one fearful glance at Benjamin, they both dug their heels into their mounts, urging them into a gallop hoping to get away thought the forest's many twist and turns.

The chase when on for a long time, but it could not last forever, And the lovers were greatly outnumbered.

" Benjamin! We can't go back! We _must_ lose them!" Amelia shouted breathlessly to Erick who was riding hard beside her.

"There's a fork in the road up ahead!" Benjamin yelled back in an equally breathless voice. "You head to the south, I'll head to the north. We can divide their numbers. I'll meet you in Rameen tomorrow at the inn."

She gave him a nod, not wanting to speak for fear her voice would betray the tears she felt welling up in her eyes.

They were nearing the fork in the road now. Their horses are snorting hard.

"Be safe, and don't die!" she shouts. As she begins to steer her mount to the south. "My heart is always with you!"

"As is mine!" he returned and right before the path forked he threw a bag at her, she caught it with trouble and then he disappeared to the north as she headed towards the south.

"Split up, do not let them get away!" Shouted the sheriff to his men. He head to the north with half of his posse as the other half fallowed Amelia to the south.

xxxxHappyHalloweenxxxx

Amelia was almost flying through the forest, she could still here the hoofs behind her, but not all of there horses where as fast as her's and she knew that theirs where growing slower. She rounded a bend and instead of staying on the path she pulled a hard right and jumped some bushes trying to get away, she looked back to see if they were still following her, they were not but she turn forward in her saddle only to see a branch coming at her with speeds that she could not stop, her beloved horse was the last thing she saw.

xxxxHappyHalloweenxxxx

Amelia woke up slowly, wondering where she was, than all the horror came flooding back, Benjamin, the chase, the splitting up, the bag, the branch that knocked her off her horse, which was now gone….wait! The bag, she thought. She looked and it was in her hand, she never let it go. She opened it and in side were two boxes one was long and straight, and the other looked like a ring box. She opened the long box first and inside was a black rose. The rarest flower in the entire realm, it was beautiful, it mush have taken him forever to fine one, it was her favorite flower. Next she opened the the ring box and in it was an engagement ring it had a fair size diamond and he had bought it, he didn't steal it. She was crying now to think how hard he must have worked for both gifts, and where he was now, he didn't even see her open them, she had to find him! She started to run she had no idea where she was or where she should go to fine him but she ran.

xxxxHappyHalloweenxxxx

Benjamin did not have it so easy. As soon as the posse saw that the girl had split away from him, they began to spur their horses still harder.

Benjamin struggled to stay ahead of them, whispering encouraging words to his mount as he pushed him onward. Up ahead, he knew, was a river. If he could reach the river, he thought he could get away.

There! He saw the bridge up ahead. Then came the arrows. The first shots went high and Benjamin veered to the left, hoping that the shadows the trees provided would make it harder for the shooters to see their target.

He could see the moonlight glistening off the river as it gurgled peacefully downstream. He could loose them there! No one knew the twist and turns of the riverbank as well as he.

More arrows where shot. He ducked, felt one wiz by scratching his shoulder, but still he road on. Only a hundred yards were between him and freedom.

Final arrows fired as if tolling a bell for all to fear that cold night. Benjamin turned to see the shooter, and in the same instant, the arrow struck his horse, sending him reeling forward and throwing him out of the saddle and onto the road.

The posse pulled their mounts to a stop, encircling Benjamin as he tried to rise to his feet. The Sheriff glares down at him with glassy eyes that catch the moonlight and in a cold voice he said, "Bring me the rope." Benjamin knew this was it.

xxxxHappyHalloweenxxxx

Amelia ran until she heard voices, she ducked behind a bush and looked out, before her was her father standing near a tree looking up, what she saw would haunt her for the rest of her life on a high branch stood Benjamin with a his hand tied together and a rope around this neck. A man stood behind him on the branch and before she could even cry out the man pushed. She was too late. Benjamin was hung. She couldn't stay there with him just hanging there, she couldn't! So she ran, after she was a good way away where she knew they couldn't hear her, she screamed and sat and than she cried heartbreaking, sob of total pain. They had killed him, with no feeling, in cold blood. He had loved her, she had loved him back with all her heart, and now he was gone, never to hold her, or kiss her, ever, ever again. By the moon she could tell it was midnight. And he hung, by a rope tied to a tree, and she had seen it happen. He hung there alone, dead, _lifeless;_ on the day they were going to be happy. She wasn't going to let him hang from that tree all night as a warning to all the men that would love her but who her father wouldn't approve of, she had to go back. She walked slowly back to the awful place and saw that everyone was gone, she took her sword that still was at her side, and cut the rope and he dropped down hard on the ground, she set him down straight and started to dig with her hands.

xxxxHappyHalloweenxxxx

It was morning by the time she had dug a hole that he would fit in. She put him in. She took her cloak and put in one top of him. She could hardly see for the tears that were raining down her face. She set the rose that he had given her on him, one of the last things he had given her, and began filling in the gave. It was afternoon by the time she had finished crying over her lover's gave. She sat feeling nothing the pain was numbing. Than it hit her, anger, rage, for the man that had kill Benjamin, she no longer could call him her father, he was now simply Benjamin's murderer, never again could she love him as she had, never could she love anyone _ever again_. Because of him. That man. Than she saw her horse. That was all she needed, she took Benjamin's cloak which she had took off him, she jumped on her horse's back and rode for hours until she reach the town. She never took the ring off her finger.

xxxxHappyHalloweenxxxx

Amelia thundered into town. She pulled up sharply at her father's office. She dismounted and standed for a moment, glaring at the door that she is about to break down. She put a hand on her sword at belt, wondering if she will have the courage to use it. Her tears are gone now. All that remained of her grief is a heavy brick that sat in her stomach.

She threw the door open into the office slamming it back against the wall and screaming out her father's name in anger, anger that could kill.

xxxxHappyHalloweenxxxx

The deputy could hear the shouting coming from inside the sheriff's office. Then he heard the crash of something heavy as it hit the floor, like a chair shattering into tiny pieces.

The deputy hurried into the room, arrow at the ready. The scene that was before him was such: One of the chairs had been thrown against the wall, right over where the sheriff's head should have been, had he been sitting behind his desk. Now, he saw a young person with his back to him, a silver sword pressed to the sheriff's throat.

The deputy pulled the back the bow and shot instantly. Just as he did so, however, the youth's head swung around to stare at him.

The deputy gasped in horror. He has just killed the sheriff's daughter.

xxxxHappyHalloweenxxxx

"They say that the sheriff went mad after his daughter's death. He claimed that he was haunted by her and her outlaw lover" Said Lexi in a spooky voice, the children were shaking with fear as she continued.

"The City of Salem deemed him mad and removed him from office. He spent the rest of his days locked in his house, never daring to leave for feat that the youths would attack him again." Lexi when on, the girls where hugging now.

"Alas, things could not continue thus. He hung himself a short time later, from the very tree that he hung his daughter's lover from. Or so they say… But some folks say, that he didn't kill himself at all. No, they say that the ghost hung him. That Amelia wanted him to suffer the same way her lover did. To this day, there are stories in the town of Salem about Amelia and Benjamin's tragedy. They say that when the moon is full and the wolves start to howl in the forest, ghostly forms are seen near Rambler's bridge. For they say, Amelia found her lover's ghost and together they live on. For as long as the hanging tree stands, covered in black roses, by the old bridge -and it is indeed a very old tree- that their love will live on, eternally true_._" Lexi was enjoying this; the boys were now hugging with the girls, scared.

"And every night on Halloween which is when the lovers died, the ghost roam the world looking for the unbelievers of love and stay with them all night, if the unbelievers don't see them than the next morning they wake up believing in love, but if they see the ghost than the next day they will be found hung on that, Very. Same. Tree." The children were wide eyed and scared looking around waiting for the ghost to pop out and grab them. It was dark now and it was raining out side, Than the door slammed open and a flash of lighting lit up the room and the two hedgehogs walking in one was Pink and on was Blue. The children screamed bloody murder and ran like hell to jump in bed.

"What did you do to the kids, Lexi?" Amy asked

"You left them with HER?" asked Sonic

"I didn't do anything to them, they asked for a story and I gave them one." Lexi replied.

"Oh? Than why did they run?" asked Amy knowing that Lexi did SOMETHING.

"Because you and your dead ghost love over there," She pointed at Sonic "as going to hang them on a tree that's hundreds of years old, cuz their unbelievers in love. Duh." Lexi said as she walked over to the kitchen, she needed some water after all that talking.

"Ok that's it, I have to hear this one!" cried Amy.

"I'm in!" agreed Soinc.

"What's everybody doing?" Shadow asked coming in the door.

"Lexi's going to tell us a ghost story!" said Sonic.

"No I'm not!" She looked at them and knew she lost. "Fine! SIT! And I'll tell." They sat down and Lexi began again.

"A long time ago in a town called Salem…"

**Me: well how did I do?**

_**Shadow: for once I really liked it. **_

**ME: AWWW THX SHADOW!**

_**Shadow: missblueflames did all the work, she's a really good writer it's hard not to like it.**_

**ME: SHE DID NOT DO ALL THE WORK YOU EMO HEAD! **

_**Shadow: I'M NOT EMO!**_

***fights***

**ANYWAY! I really hoped ya like this one cuz I had a ball working on it. I love Halloween. See ya readers!**


End file.
